Shen Shangliang set up a chair and sat alone by Lao Qi's pool.

As the night deepened, the cowhide lanterns on the courtyard wall spread a dim glow in solitude.

He lit a cigarette and took a deep breath.

The starlight on the canopy twinkles, which is particularly dazzling in this quiet night.

How long has it been since I've looked up at the stars like this?

I still remember when I was a child, my old man always liked to take him to the yard and tease him, saying that as long as he counted the stars in the sky, then his wish would definitely come true.

But every time he didn't count to three hundred, he would be tired and fall asleep on the old man's lap, although there was a famine in the whole town, and many things could not be bought with money, and life was not rich, but he was still very happy, but when he grew up, he had knowledge, and his life experience gradually increased, but he never smiled happily again.

This may be what the old man often said in his mouth at that time, the sorrow of adults!

Thinking about it, I turned 46 this year.

At the age of nineteen, he was sent to England by the old man to study, returned home at the age of twenty-six, and then married a woman in the town as his wife, and gave birth to a daughter Shen Xue two years later.

Shen Shangliang pressed his back against the chair, tilted his head back, and looked at the sky expressionlessly.

His wife passed away eighteen years ago due to dystocia, and he pulled Shen Xue up alone, a big man who wants to be a father and a mother, and the hardships are unimaginable to ordinary people.

Thinking of his daughter, Shen Shangliang's face showed a rare smile. Shen Xue is his pride, she has always been a well-behaved and obedient child, smart and sensible, but I don't know if she has noticed that her father is actually a very useless man.

Although he spent a few years in Cambridge, England, those years were completely spent eating, drinking, and having fun. After four years of college, how did I go, that is, how did I come back in a gloomy way, and I didn't learn anything.

In fact, Shen Shangliang also knew that he was useless, but fortunately, he was a direct member of the Shen family, and he could inherit a large amount of real estate from the old man.

If the real estate is sold, then his daughter will have no worries about food and clothing in this life, but the stubborn ancestor said that he would not sell anything, not only did he not sell, but also scolded him for being a bloody dog.

After all, Shen Shangliang has received a Western education, and he has never believed in the so-called feng shui, and he has always been nagging at his ancestors and not allowing anyone to change the rules of every grass and tree in his family's mansion, so in a fit of anger, he deliberately built a fountain in his yard, wanting to anger him.

Is it really wrong to do so?

He sighed, and the deep night became even quieter.

Shen Shangliang took out his watch and glanced at it, at half past eleven, it seemed that this night was still very long. He poured a cup of tea from the teapot and tasted it gently, then went back to his fidgety thoughts.

Compared with tea, he prefers to drink coffee, especially the kind of top-quality coffee steamed with milk, without adding sugar, and when it is cold and warm, he can take a sip of it, and the feeling of being full of aroma and purity will float back and forth in the whole mouth, and it will not dissipate for a long time.

In fact, when the developer proposed the plan to acquire the Shen family's mansion, he secretly decided to immigrate to Canada with his daughter after receiving the money.

And as far as he knows, there are probably not a few people who are tempted by the developer's purchase price, it is said that those people in the city want to move here to build a golf course, but no matter how many of them, it will be their problem after selling, but the key is the ancestor, how to convince him?

Shaking his head vigorously, Shen Shangliang suddenly felt that the atmosphere around him had become very strange.

He looked up and didn't find anything, but why did he always feel that something was different from what he had just done?

He scratched his head in annoyance, and his whole body shuddered violently.

That's right! It's the sound of cicadas.

Not long ago, the summer cicadas, which were still screaming, have been silenced since when, and the crickets, which are also noisy insects, have also stopped making noise.

The whole courtyard was silent, the silence was terrifying, and Shen Shangliang felt like he had jumped into a pool of viscous liquid, which was frantically poured into his ears, not only blocking his hearing, but also affecting his mood.

Something seemed to be flowing silently in the air, and the feeling of depression beside him became bigger and bigger, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and the original dim and yellow light of the lantern on the wall turned red, a blood-red red.

Shen Shangliang closed his eyes in disbelief, and then opened them again.

The blood red suddenly disappeared, and the lantern not far away still emitted that half-dead faint yellow light.

Everything seemed to be back to its original state, and he clutched his pounding heart and let out a long breath, just then a chill crept up his back without warning.

His face was full of fear, and for the first time in his life, he said the names of Guanyin Bodhisattva, Buddha Nyorai, God, Jesus, and so on.

However, this nightmare did not seem to disappear without a trace because of his piety, and Shen Shangliang slowly turned his head......

A scream suddenly spread from this courtyard into the distance.

The first to be woken up was of course the old Qi family, because we lived relatively close to his house, so I heard the screams, and Shen Xue, who had been worried about my father, rushed over as soon as possible.

As soon as he entered Lao Qi's courtyard, he saw Shen Shangliang sitting on the ground, his face was pale, and his whole body couldn't stop trembling.

His eyes widened, and he pointed to the bronze lion in front of him with fear, no matter how the people around him asked, he only made a strange "whoosh" sound at the Adam's apple.

"Dad, what's wrong with you?"

Shen Xue immediately ran up and hugged Shen Shangliang, her eyes were red, and she almost cried.

I whispered comfortingly, "Looks like your dad is frightened by something." After speaking, he glanced at the bronze lion curiously, there was no problem, it was exactly the same as what he saw during the day?

"Lion, lion......" Shen Shangliang finally spoke: "That lion just lowered its head and looked at me coldly, its eyes were red like blood, and its face was full of hideous desire to swallow me!" ”

Everyone shuddered!

I looked at the bronze lion again, but I couldn't see anything wrong.

"Help your dad go back to his room and rest first."

I motioned to Shen Xue to coax this man who was obviously in a bad mental state to sleep, she nodded gratefully, and helped Shen Shangliang back with her aunt left and right.

At this time, Shen Yufeng also walked over, but he grabbed two people in his hands, and when he saw us looking at him in surprise, he explained: "I heard the screams of the sixth brother just now, and immediately rushed out, but as soon as I went out, I found that there were two sneaky people looking around with their heads stretched out. As soon as I saw the raw faces, I grabbed them. ”